Being an A-list actor isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be . There are incredible demands put upon your schedule, your personal time, and sometimes — your physical fitness.
In order to really sell a role, actors are often asked to go above and beyond and completely transform themselves for the sake of their art. With that being said, have a look at these ridiculous celebrity transformations that I’m still thinking about.
Christian Bale dropped over 60 lbs in order to portray Trevor Reznik in ‘The Machinist’.
You’d think that losing more than 30% of your total body weight would’ve been enough for Christian, but some people are never satisfied. He’s said in interviews that his goal was to go even lower .
Chris Evans basically tortured himself in order to accurately portray Captain America in ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’.
Chris would work out for 2 hours a day, four to five days a week, for three months. According to him, the worst part was living off of chicken and rice alone .
Gerard Butler redefined men’s fitness and physique portraying King Leonidas in ‘300’.
Gerard’s Spartan workout looked like this: 25 pull-ups, 50 deadlifts with 135 pounds , 50 push-ups, 50 jumps on a 24-inch box, 50 floor-wipers, 50 single-arm clean-and-presses using a 36-pound kettlebell, and 25 more pull-ups.
Jake Gyllenhaal put on 30 lbs (15 lbs of muscle) in order to look the part in ‘South Paw’.
Jake didn’t allow himself to take any days off in preparation for his role in Southpaw . He trained seven days a week for six months straight in order to get in shape.
Sylvester Stallone got his body fat down to 2.9% for ‘Rocky III’.
Sylvester was on a protein-rich diet that would leave him exhausted in-between rounds for fight scenes. In order to stay alert, he ate oatmeal cookies with brown rice ; a couple of scoops of tuna fish, and would consume upwards of 25 cups of coffee.
Kumail Najiani got absolutely shredded for Marvel’s ‘Eternals’.
“I never thought I’d be one of those people who would post a thirsty shirtless , but I’ve worked way too hard for way too long so here we are,” Kumail wrote via Instagram. “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”
Chris Hemsworth got bigger than ever before in ‘Thor: Love And Thunder’.
“This was probably the biggest and fittest I’ve ever been ,” Chris said in an interview with Disney. “We had 12 months where I was at home just training and puppeteering the body and manipulating.”
Michael B. Jordan had to basically become a boxer in order to pull off playing Adonis Creed in ‘Creed II’.
Michael was already in phenomenal shape, having already played Adonis once before. That’s what makes his additional 20 lbs of muscle all the more impressive.
Tom Hardy put on over 40 lbs in order to play the bare-knuckle boxer Charles Bronson in ‘Bronson’.
“For Bronson , I put on about 7lbs a week – with no steroids,” Tom told Men’s Health. “In the end, I’d put on about 2 and a half stone by eating chicken and rice , which was my staple diet throughout the day.”
Will Smith went from 185 lbs to 220 lbs in ‘Ali’.
Prior to portraying Muhammad Ali on the big screen, Will was tall and lanky. But after spending six hours a day in the gym and maxing out his bench at 350 lbs , he completely revamped his entire body.
Brad Pitt looked like a golden god in ‘Troy’.
When you’re cast to portray the greatest warrior in human history, you better do your homework. For Brad, that meant adding 25 lbs of pure muscle to his already lean 160-pound frame.
Chris Pratt shed 60 lbs in order to play Peter Quill aka Star-Lord in ‘The Guardians Of The Galaxy’.
What’s even more impressive than Chris Pratt losing 60 lbs was the timeframe in which he was able to accomplish the task. All in all, it took him just six months .
Mickey Rourke proved that he’s still got what it takes in ‘The Wrestler’.
Putting on 30 lbs of lean muscle would be difficult for anyone, but for a 55-year-old man — it’s next to impossible. That’s what makes Mickey’s performance as Randy “The Ram” Robinson all the more impressive.
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Robert De Niro gained 20 lbs of muscle and then put on 60 lbs of fat to emulate Jake LaMotta in ‘Raging Bull’.
De Niro first had to gain muscle, in order to film the scenes where Jake is still a young man in his prime, and then he had to gain 60 lbs in order to better illustrate his decline.
Christian Bale gained 100 lbs to play Bruce Wayne/Batman in ‘Batman Begins’.
Before Christian began filming on Batman Begins , he weighed 120 lbs — having just wrapped filming on The Machinist . By the time he donned the cape and cowl, he was back up to 220 lbs .
